Central Information Commission
Mr.Gopal Chauhan vs Mcd, Gnct Delhi on 28 June, 2011
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building (Near Post Office)
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067
Tel: +91-11-26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2011/001195/13142
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2011/001195
Relevant facts emerging from the Appeal:
Appellant : Mr. Gopal Chauhan,
1/28, Lalita Park,
Laxmi Nagar,
Delhi- 110092.
Respondent 1 : Mr. Arun Kumar
PIO & SE-I Municipal Corporation of Delhi Shahdara South Zone, Karkardooma, Shahdara, New Delhi 110032.
Respondent 2 Mr. Pushkar Sharm
PIO & SE-II
Municipal Corporation of Delhi
Shahdara South Zone,
Karkardooma, Shahdara,
New Delhi 110032.
RTI application filed on : 03/01/2011
PIO replied on : 14/01/2011
20/01/2011
07/02/2011
First Appeal filed on : 21/02/2011
First Appellate Authority order of : 22/03/2011
Second Appeal received on : 02/05/2011
Information Sought:
1) With respect to the complaint no. 7796, the present diary/complaint no. of which is 15723, dated 06/09/2010, regarding mending of 14 damaged roads, making arrangements of clearance of water on these roads and installing of street lights on them, provide a report on action taken in this regard.
2) Provide the Daily Progress Report and the Name, designation, address and contact no. of the officers who investigated on this complaint.
3) If investigation has been done by an officer, provide a copy of the investigation report. If no investigation has been carried out, what action has been taken against such an officer for non- performance of his duties? If no action has been taken, why has an action not been taken till date?
4) Has the mending of the 14 roads been completed with installing of street lights and making arrangements for clearance of water?
5) Can I inspect these roads which have been mended by the corporation?
Page 1 of 46) If the roads have not been completely mended with the above mentioned facilities, who are the responsible officers from the 1) Engineering, 2) Project, 3) Electricity Department? What action will be taken against them and by when?
7) By when will the repairing of these roads be completed with installation of street lights and arrangement for clearance of water and by which officers will the work be done?
8) With reference to paragraph (a)(b) of complaint no. 15723, when will street lights be installed on these roads and which officer will carry out this work? Why has no action been taken in this regard till now?
9) When were these 14 roads previously repaired? By which officer of the MCD were these repaired and on what designation and in which zone of MCD or which department of the GNCTD is he presently working?
10) Give an account of all the Blocks in Engineering Department(SE-1 and SE-11) Shahdara South Zone and the Name, Address, Designation and Contact No. of all the officials working in it.
Reply of the PIO & SE-II as per information received from Exec. Engineer (M) - IV vide letter dated 14/01/2010:
1) The information sought has been addressed by this office vide letter No. EE(M) IV/Shah(S)/D-464 dated 15/07/2010 through SE-II/Shah(S) vide letter no. 356/SE-II(PIO)/Shah(S)/10 dated 21/07/2010.
2) As above.
3) The information sought is not "information" as per Section 2(f) of the RTI Act, 2005 because the information asked for is not recorded in the office records.
4) As above.
5) As above.
6) As above.
7) As above.
8) As above.
9) The information cannot be provided in the form it is asked for. The applicant can inspect the available office records by visiting the office within 15 days in the working hour.
10) Yes, correct information has been provided by the office.
Reply of the PIO & SE-II as per information received from Exec. Engineer (B)-II vide letter dated 14/01/2011:
1) The information regarding this complaint is not available with this office.
2) As above
3) As above
4) With regards to the list of roads attached.Three roads come within the area of this block - (a), (b),
(c). The information relating to them is:
a) This road has beenb constructed under the road project of Shahdara south block.
b) This road is under construction under the road project of Shahdara south block.
c) The tenders for construction of this road have been invited and file has been sent to the senior officials for approval. Work on the road will start as soon as the orders are passed. The installation of street lights will be done on all of these 3 roads by the Electricity Department.
5) You can inspect the constructed roads.
6) The above mentioned roads are still undergoing construction and therefore no official can be held responsible in this regard.
7) As per the answer to Query 4.
8) The information related to this query is not available with this office.
9) The information related to this query is not available with this office.
10) List of all the Officers in the Engineering Department(SE-1 and SE-11) Shahdara South Zone has been attached.Page 2 of 4
Reply of the PIO & SE-I as per information received from Exec. Engineer (M)-I Dated 20/01/2011:
1) The information sought is not available in the records. It does not fall under the definition of "information" as per the RTI Act, 2005.
2) This information is not available in our office.
3) This information is not available in our office.
4) The applicant has mentioned about construction of the 14 roads through the list attached but has failed to mention a time frame. No construction work has been undergoing on these roads since January. The installation of Street Lights falls under the perview of Executive engineer Electricity department.
5) Yes
6) This information is not related to this department.
7) No proposal for construction of any of the 14 roads is pending in the office of M-I Shah(S) Block.
8) The installation of Street Lights is done by the Electricity Department.
9) No work has been done on any of the roads enlisted in the List in the month of January.
10) Under M-I Shah(S) block : Mr. Satyadev Tomar, Designation- Executive Engineer, Block 5, Geeta Colony, Delhi- 51.
Contact No. 22548009.
Reply of the PIO & SE-I as per the information received from EE(M) II dated 07/02/2011:
1) Of the 14 mentioned roads, 4 roads come under this block. Construction work has been carried out on these roads from time to time.
2) The work of repairing these roads on a daily basis is being carried out by the Junior Engineer as per requirement.
3) No omission with respect to repairing of these roads was found by the field staff at the time of inspection.
4) The arrangement of water clearance on the above mentioned roads under this block is found to be working effectively.
5) Yes.
6) This information is not related to this department.
7) The work of repair of the above mentioned roads will be carried on from time to time as per requirement and availability of funds.
8) This information is not related to this Block.
9) This information is not related to this Block.
10) The list of Officials under S.E.-I has been attached.
Grounds for the First Appeal:
Information given by PIO is incomplete and unsatisfactory.
Order of the First Appellate Authority (FAA):
The FAA directed to the PIO that a consolidated reply be provided to the appellant by compiling the information from all the four Divisions and reply should be explicitly clear, so that the appellant is well informed about the action and the status of the roads, as asked in his initial application. The compiled information be provided by 3 l March, 2011 positively.
Ground for the Second Appeal:
The information provided by the PIO is not satisfactory.Page 3 of 4
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
Following were present:
Appellant:
Respondent 1: Mr. S. D. Tomar, EE-I on behalf of Mr. Arun Kumar, PIO & SE-I; Respondent 2: Mr. Mula Singh, EE-(M-IV) on behalf of Mr. Pushkar Sharma, PIO & SE-II;
The respondents admit that the information as per the order of the FAA was not sent to the Appellant. They claim that the reasonability of sending this information as per the order of the FAA was of the PIOs SE-I Mr. Arun Kumar & SE-II Mr. Pushkar Sharma.
Decision:
The Appeal is allowed.
The PIOs SE-I & SE-II are directed to provide the information as directed by the FAA in a consolidated manner to the Appellant before 10 July 2011.
The issue before the Commission is of not supplying the complete, required information by the PIOs Mr. Arun Kumar and Pushkar Sharma within 30 days as required by the law.
From the facts before the Commission it is apparent that the deemed PIOs SE-I & SE-II are guilty of not furnishing information within the time specified under sub-section (1) of Section 7 by not replying within 30 days, as per the requirement of the RTI Act.
It appears that the deemed PIOs actions attract the penal provisions of Section 20 (1). A showcause notice is being issued to them, and they are directed give their reasons to the Commission to show cause why penalty should not be levied on them.
PIOs SE-I Mr. Arun Kumar and SE-II Pushkar Sharma will present themselves before the Commission at the above address on 27 July 201 at 02.30PM alongwith their written submissions showing cause why penalty should not be imposed on them as mandated under Section 20 (1). They will also bring the information sent to the appellant as per this decision and submit speed post receipt as proof of having sent the information to the appellant.
If there are other persons responsible for the delay in providing the information to the Appellant the PIO is directed to inform such persons of the show cause hearing and direct them to appear before the Commission with him.
This decision is announced in open chamber.
Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties. Any information in compliance with this Order will be provided free of cost as per Section 7(6) of RTI Act.
Shailesh Gandhi Information Commissioner 28 June 2011 (In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.) (IT) Page 4 of 4